


least of my kind

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Angst, Families of Choice, Feral Behavior, Found Family, Gen, Parental Roy Mustang, Shapeshifting, Werewolves, Wolf Instincts, Wolf Pack, might be more accurate, sorta - Freeform, whether or not he wants to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:29:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23353975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: Roy Mustang is not prepared for the scent that hits him in Resembool.He isn't prepared for the sight, either, but it's the smell that hits him first.  It will always be the smell that hits him first.The Elric's house stinks- of blood, of bone-deep, soul-gnawing fear, a scattershot variety of minerals.  More pressingly, the sharp smell peculiar to alchemy stings his nose, and so does something else he can't identify- and something else that he can, all too readily.He knows the scent of death all too well.  It dogs his steps and haunts his sleep, even now.  He thinks it always will.(The Elrics are wolves.  They may not know what that means, but Mustang does, and so does his team- so does his pack.The Elrics are wolves, and Truth still takes Al's body- but Al has another in reserve, this time).
Comments: 44
Kudos: 384





	least of my kind

**Author's Note:**

> surprise, i have other fandoms? 
> 
> ... but the same tropes. it's, it's all the same tropes, guys.

Roy Mustang is not prepared for the scent that hits him in Resembool.

He isn't prepared for the sight, either, but it's the smell that hits him first. It will always be the smell that hits him first.

The Elric's house stinks- of blood, of bone-deep, soul-gnawing fear, a scattershot variety of minerals. More pressingly, the sharp smell peculiar to alchemy stings his nose, and so does something else he can't identify- and something else that he can, all too readily. 

He knows the scent of death all too well. It dogs his steps and haunts his sleep, even now. He thinks it always will.  


"Sir?" Hawkeye is definitely shaken, but her voice is no less steady than ever. She's shadowing him as closely as she always does, but it seems a far more deliberate than usual.

Roy breathes in, holds the breath even though the smell makes his eyes water, lets it out. He pinches his nose shut, closes his eyes and opens them again. "We need to find the Elrics. Immediately. This isn't-" He gestures at the house, though they're still in the entryway. The reek of blood and death and terror makes him reluctant to move closer.

Hawkeye's eyes widen at whatever expression he wears, only to narrow again at his words. She nods sharply. "Yes, sir. The nearest neighbours are the Rockbells."

They head straight there, and he knows immediately at the Rockbell's that he'd been right. He's clearly still missing a lot of pieces to this puzzle, but he'd been right.

He wishes that he hadn't been.

The boy in the wheelchair, the dog with the automail limb curled up at his feet, is not what Roy expected.

The- young,  _ young _ , the Elrics are  _ children,  _ they weren't supposed to be children- golden wolf at the boy's side, head resting gently on the boy's remaining leg,  _ is _ what he expected.

And that means he has a responsibility. 

The dog lifts her head and thumps her tail as Roy crosses the room. The boys don't react, right up until Roy grabs the older boy's shirt and hauls him up to growl, "You idiot pups, did no one ever tell you what a pack is? How to find one? That you  _ should? _ "

No, no, no one had, Roy already knows the answer to his question because the boys are _here_ , but he can't keep from asking anyway. 

The Rockbell's loud gasps nearly drown Hawkeye's tiny indrawn breath.

The golden wolf cringes back, whining out, "Sorry, sorry, we're sorry, we're sorry!" at the same time as the young girl demands, "You know what they are?"

That's a worrying response if he's ever heard one. Roy growls in answer, glancing back at Hawkeye and waiting for her acknowledging nod, her shift into a guarding stance.

He shifts into his wolf.

Roy's wolf is huge. Havoc may be taller, but Roy is the more solidly built. On all fours, his head is level with the boy, and far above the golden wolf. His black fur is shaggier and shorter than the younger wolf, and the next growl he lets out reverberates through his entire form.

The golden wolf flinches back, eyes wide, and even the boy shifts slightly. Something sparks in his unresponsive eyes, something that speaks to the wolf in Roy. He doesn't believe that only one brother would be a wolf, after all. The likelihood would be far too low, and besides that there's the unmistakable hint of wolf on the boy even now, more than his brother's presence alone would account for. 

Somewhere behind him, the Rockbells have erupted into shouting, but Hawkeye is already running damage control.

"Stupid pups," Roy snaps again. "You can build a new pack! Humans can be pack, too! You could have found the rest of us!"

The golden wolf is still cringing, but he whips his head up at that.

"There are others like us?" he whispers. "Wolves like us?"

That's a strange way to phrase that, but that's not Roy's main concern just yet. "Yes," he says simply, and shifts back to look to the elder Rockbell. "I have some questions."

Not all of his questions are answered. Not all of them can be.

Enough of them are that he makes the offer.

"You'd make him a dog of the military," the old woman- Pinako- scoffs. "You'd make them dogs, make them  _ tame.  _ Wouldn't you." 

It's not a question, and Roy doesn't answer.

He holds Ed's gaze instead- holds the fire in Ed's gaze. "It's something to think about, Ed."

"What about me?" Alphonse says softly, his head back in his brother's lap. "We... We can't shift anymore, sir. I can't use alchemy like this. I can't... " He trails off, into a whine that pulls at Roy's instincts. 

The Elrics weren't supposed to be children. 

"If Ed joins the military, that makes me his sponsor. That makes me his commanding officer when he's accepted." The boys just survived human transmutation. Ed  _ will _ be accepted. "And everyone under my command is part of my pack. That will be true of you, as well. Both of you." Roy hesitates, then sighs. "And I might have some ideas to keep you together, as well."

Before he goes, he tells the young Miss Rockbell not to use silver.

She scoffs at him. "I'm not an idiot, you know." She hefts a hunk of metal from a side table, throwing it over her shoulder with an ease he would never have suspected, and eyes him with the kind of challenge he doesn't normally see from humans. Most humans avoid his gaze on instinct, but Winry certainly doesn't. "They're  _ my  _ best friends. I know what I'm doing." 

Watching her as she turns to size up Ed, eyes narrowed in speculation as her gaze darts between his missing arm and leg, he finds he believes her.

Roy has to return to his command, but he can't justify leaving the boys alone, not even to himself. He can't take them with him (he can't believe he wants to take them with him), not while Ed is still recovering, but he can send someone to them.

As much as he'd like to send Riza, she's not a wolf, and they're going to need someone who can use both forms to help Alphonse. Breda is the same problem; Ed and Al would be too much for Falman, who's just beginning to feel his age. His next choice would be Fuery- the man is just the right kind of friendly to connect with Al, although perhaps not Ed- but he needs Fuery's help on the comms. Maes... is out of the question, and not in his command, besides.

He sends Havoc, in the end. 

* * *

Havoc is absolutely wonderful for answering all of Winry's long-held questions about her friends. None of them have ever had anyone to ask before and she and Al, at least, have every intention of making up for that all at once. 

Ed will, too, when he's- when he's more himself, again. And he  _ will be _ , Winry tells herself, fiercely, repeatedly. He's- he's adjusting right now, and she knows when his curiosity does come roaring back it's going to be twice as intense. 

"There aren't that many of us," Havoc tells them, chewing absently on a stalk of grass (Pinako has banned smoking around Ed). "And we don't all know each other. I know Roy's pack because I'm  _ in _ Roy's pack, but that's about it."

Al says something tentatively from his now-usual place at Ed's side. Den tends to take Ed's other side, so that Ed is always bracketed by the wolf and the dog, ready to catch him if he falters even though he's still using a wheelchair.  


Winry doesn't know  _ what  _ Al says. She's so used to her friends shifting that she's never thought before about how she doesn't understand them when they're in wolf form. Usually she knows what they mean anyway, which is proving a relief for her and Al both, but they've never gone this long without Al shifting back to talk to her. They've never gone long without Al shifting back at all, and now-

Havoc inclines his head and is sure to rephrase for Winry's benefit. "Yeah, something like half our pack is human. I get the impression that isn't quite usual, but it's the only pack I've known, and it works well for us." He laughs a little, self consciously. "I can't imagine what we'd be like without Hawkeye, to be honest, and she wouldn't be a wolf even if we could somehow make her one."

Havoc's eyes turn knowing when he sees the shift in Winry's expression at that. Of course, her two closest friends are both wolves- are still wolves, no matter what form they may take. Of course she's wondered if there's a way for her to be one as well.

There might be at that- alchemy can get pretty strange- but she doesn't know it, and if anyone else does they aren't telling.

"I don't know of a way that can happen," Havoc admits, mostly for Winry's benefit. "I was born like this, and so were the others, as best I know. You two, too, I suppose?"

Al's tail thumps. Ed moves to pet him, which is a good sign- Ed still hasn't spoken, but he does seem to be recovering slowly. He's beginning to react more. Havoc trusts Roy, and Roy says he saw something in the boy's eyes, but so far all Havoc has seen is a child hurt more deeply than he'd ever imagined.

"I think we were?" Al says uncertainly. "We didn't actually know it, at first. We never changed when Dad was still around...I think it's from his side. Mom was so surprised." His voice takes on a strained, wistful tone whenever he mentions his mother. Having been filled in by Roy, Havoc keeps his wince internal. 

Winry does not, which is interesting. 

"It might not be from your father," he admits, glancing at Winry and glad for his practice with Riza and Breda as far as his translating skills go. "It's known to skip generations. Neither of my parents were, and Roy was adopted so we don't know."

Ed speaks for the first time since Havoc's been there. His voice is hoarse as he rasps out, "That bastard's an orphan, too, huh?"

Pinako had very much given him the impression that the boy's father was alive, but he's clearly not in the picture, so Havoc simply says, "Yes."

"Huh." Ed doesn't say anything else, but his hand stills on his brother's head, and he's holding himself straighter.

It's not long after that that he asks Winry about the automail. 

(Winry's already completed the arm, by then).

* * *

"So is there anything we should watch for?" Pinako asks Havoc in a moment of relative privacy. Al and Winry are asleep, and Ed is resting in the surgery room between procedures.

Havoc did not sign up to watch a child get automail surgery. He has mostly been outside with Den, carefully staying to his less-sensitive human form.

"Because of their conditions?" Havoc hesitates. "I know Roy told you not to use silver."

"You know that's not what I mean, young man." Pinako levels her pipe at him. "Those boys have spent time in wolf form every day since they realised what they are. You hide it better than they do, but I know you sneak off to transform in the night, too. What harm does it do them, being trapped in one form?"

Havoc exhales heavily. He's been putting this off. "It isn't something we've encountered very often before, to be honest. Riza's done some research, and we have some theories, but nothing concrete, you understand?" That's not... strictly true, but as much as he likes Pinako some things are pack secrets.

He puts out his own cigarette. "We usually have slightly different instincts between forms and that line is probably erased for them. So, for example, Al's more likely to think things through than most of us are as wolves, and maybe less adept at things like hunting than he would be otherwise."

Pinako puffs calmly on her pipe. Havoc's grown to like Pinako a great deal, and one thing he admires is that nothing ever seems to ruffle her calm. "And Ed?"

It's telling that it's Ed's reactions she seems more concerned by. He wonders if she knows how telling. 

"Worse temper," Havoc admits. "I don't know how likely it was for him to lose his temper before-" Pinako's snort is far from reassuring- "But now it's pretty much inevitable. And, well, it's possible Al will bite people in a temper. It's  _ definite _ that Ed will bite people. Be a bit feral, maybe, even as a human."

"Like that's new," Pinako mutters.

Havoc eyes her. "Be more likely to growl and snap and snarl, too." 

"Ah, no change, then," Pinako intones back at him, tapping her pipe on the railing.

Havoc's going to have to let Mustang know they're going to have their hands and paws full with the kid's temper.

**Author's Note:**

> honestly, i heard the song least of my kind by three weird sisters while binging fma and this sorta... happened. this is actually from like a year and a half ago, im just editing the pieces now 'cause it wasnt terribly coherent. (i was fairly injured at the time).


End file.
